Rating: 
Summary: In MASQUERADE...
Review: A woman awakes in a room she doesn't recognize, next to a lover she doesn't know, with no memory of her life or her past. She is told her name is Liz Sansborough and that she is a top U.S. intelligence agent. But is she?
The only thing that is certain is that someone is trying to kill her. After surviving a surprise attack, Liz is sent to a Top-Secret CIA training camp in the Colorado mountains where she quickly regains her old skills. She learns her deadly assignment: She must bring in a lethal international assassin from the old Cold War days, the man known only by his alias, The Carnivore.
But she rapidly comes to suspect that she is not Liz Sansborough at all, and that the CIA colleagues she has come to trust are perhaps the ones plotting to kill her. Together with her single ally, rogue intelligence agent Asher Flores, Liz sets out to determine her true identity, and in doing so begins to uncover a conspiracy that threatens to destroy the financial markets of Europe, and the world.
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't mind finishing this book...
Review: An interesting plot...and can get excited time to time...
Okay to read...
Rating: 
Summary: Kirkus missed the point, the fun, the chill on this one.
Review: For a keen insight into the sometimes irrational,
always quirky, and latent danger of the spy,
counter-spy genre, as well as a chilling insight into our
hedged, if not hopeful attraction to all that,
read this spy novel about a fictional woman spy, (there are plenty)
by a woman who has done just enough homework to let
the fiction carry the story. You'll be challenged just
to keep track of yourself while reading it. Gayle Lynds is on her way up, and, unlike many
others adhering to this genre, Gayle's plot
is alive and treacherous. It is not just another
dry, though complex empty category into which she pours
empty, if hyperactive characters. You may not know which
way is north, which way in home, safely back
to your desk, or porch, or reading room.
You may lose track of who you, yourself are, until
you finish the book. One thinks of
Le Carre updated by Clancey. I read the book straight through. I tried to put it down,
but I could not sleep. Like thrillers? Here's one
with a special woman's tase of evil, and a
thoughtful woman's brand of intelligence.
Rating:
Summary: Nice, but over the top!
Review: Gayle Lynds definintely has some talent, but as an avid thriller reader, I found her plot and characters too unbelievable--in fact I felt as though I were reading a cheesy romance writer's attempt at murder and mystery. Everything was just toooooo contrived, from the CIA head, to the Carnivore, to the look-alike cousins, to the clown disguises, to the evil doctor. For me, this was not a "page-turner" and I only finished it because it was loaned to me by my best friend and I had to find out how Lynds wrapped this all together in the final outcome. Unfortunately, the ending was also lame. I believe Gayle will get better with practice and I would recommend this as a good airplane or waiting room read if you want something glitzy that doesn't take much power of concentration.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks Robert Ludlum!
Review: Had I not read The Hades Factor, co-authored by Robert Ludlum and Gayle Lunds, I doubt I would have even looked at this book. But I am a longtime Ludlum fan and decided that if he could share authorship with Gayle Lunds then it was worth the chance. What a great book! I love amnesia stories, and spy thrillers, and Masquerade combines both. This was a real page-turner in the Ludlum tradition. This was a powerful and compelling story - as well as a great start for a new novelist!
Rating:
Summary: Read This Book
Review: I am a sucker for amnesia stories, because the premise of the main character having to find out who (s)he is promises suspense, which is why I read. But often I find that these stories don't deliver up to my expectations. Masquerade is hands down the BEST amnesia story I've ever read. It starts out fast and speeds up. It held my interest from beginning to end and kept me guessing - sometimes correctly and sometimes not - throughout. When I read a book this good, I latch onto that writer and want to read everything by them. Usually it turns out they have a dozen other books, so I can catch up. I was both impressed and disappointed to find that Masquerade is a first novel. I hope Ms. Lynds decides to keep writing - I want more!
Rating:
Summary: She is Running for Her Life, Better Not Get in the Way
Review: I checked this book out from the library yesterday and to my surprise this old guy who worked there told me it was one of his favorite books, that he'd read it several times. "What's it like?" I asked. "Sort of a cross between THE BOURNE IDENTITY and SEE JANE RUN, if you know what I mean." I did indeed know what he meant. Jason Bourne (who probably everybody knows about now because of the hugely successful movie) and Jane Whittaker are two of my all time favorite characters from two of my all time favorite books. To be compared with Robert Ludlum (who Ms. Lynds would later write with) and Joy Fielding is an honor of the first order, but it also sets up high expectations. After that kind of billing I was ready for a rock 'em, sock 'em thriller that would leave me bleary-eyed as I stumbled into bed at two in the morning. I'm hear to tell you I was not disappointed, though I was not bleary-eyed, because this book kept me on the edge of the sofa and on the edge of reality all night long as my fingers blistered through the pages. When I'd finished my adrenaline was pumping, my eyes were wide open and I'd bitten off a couple nails. It was as if I'd had a dozen cups of coffee without anything to eat. So what was it about this five star book that got and kept me so excited? A whole lotta stuff. Every time I thought I had a handle on where it was going, the story twisted down the least expected of paths, pulling me along like a fish in the line. Yes, I'm a sucker for a strong female protagonist, I'm also a sucker for a good story and you get both here, but you get so much more, like turncoat bad guys that get you so emotionally involved that you'd like to squash them like a bug, like a bad guy turned good over love who winds up dead of account of it and, after you've wiped away the tears, you gasp in horror at what happens to his lover. You get to see a rummy drunk, who'd been beaten down over the years by a despicable husband, overcome her addiction, throw her shoulders back and save the day. You get to see justice and you get to smile as our heroine squashes some of those bugs. But there is still more. This is a story about a young woman who wakes one morning not knowing who she is, ala Jason Bourne and Jane Whittaker, but because it's about a woman who is apparently suffering from amnesia, please don't think it's a clichéd story, because it's not. As I said above, this story, Liz Sansborough and Sarah Walker's story, will take you to the most unexpected places, get your blood running, your pulse racing and your adrenaline rushing as you read the night away to an exciting, thrilling and fulfilling climax. And then you'll what to do just what I'm going to do, you'll want to go out, get and read MOSAIC, the Gayle Lynds book that comes after MASQUERADE. Reviewed by Vesta Irene
Rating:
Summary: She is Running for Her Life, Better Not Get in the Way
Review: I checked this book out from the library yesterday and to my surprise this old guy who worked there told me it was one of his favorite books, that he'd read it several times. "What's it like?" I asked. "Sort of a cross between THE BOURNE IDENTITY and SEE JANE RUN, if you know what I mean." I did indeed know what he meant. Jason Bourne (who probably everybody knows about now because of the hugely successful movie) and Jane Whittaker are two of my all time favorite characters from two of my all time favorite books. To be compared with Robert Ludlum (who Ms. Lynds would later write with) and Joy Fielding is an honor of the first order, but it also sets up high expectations. After that kind of billing I was ready for a rock 'em, sock 'em thriller that would leave me bleary-eyed as I stumbled into bed at two in the morning. I'm hear to tell you I was not disappointed, though I was not bleary-eyed, because this book kept me on the edge of the sofa and on the edge of reality all night long as my fingers blistered through the pages. When I'd finished my adrenaline was pumping, my eyes were wide open and I'd bitten off a couple nails. It was as if I'd had a dozen cups of coffee without anything to eat. So what was it about this five star book that got and kept me so excited? A whole lotta stuff. Every time I thought I had a handle on where it was going, the story twisted down the least expected of paths, pulling me along like a fish in the line. Yes, I'm a sucker for a strong female protagonist, I'm also a sucker for a good story and you get both here, but you get so much more, like turncoat bad guys that get you so emotionally involved that you'd like to squash them like a bug, like a bad guy turned good over love who winds up dead of account of it and, after you've wiped away the tears, you gasp in horror at what happens to his lover. You get to see a rummy drunk, who'd been beaten down over the years by a despicable husband, overcome her addiction, throw her shoulders back and save the day. You get to see justice and you get to smile as our heroine squashes some of those bugs. But there is still more. This is a story about a young woman who wakes one morning not knowing who she is, ala Jason Bourne and Jane Whittaker, but because it's about a woman who is apparently suffering from amnesia, please don't think it's a clichéd story, because it's not. As I said above, this story, Liz Sansborough and Sarah Walker's story, will take you to the most unexpected places, get your blood running, your pulse racing and your adrenaline rushing as you read the night away to an exciting, thrilling and fulfilling climax. And then you'll what to do just what I'm going to do, you'll want to go out, get and read MOSAIC, the Gayle Lynds book that comes after MASQUERADE. Reviewed by Vesta Irene
Rating: 
Summary: NICE READ
Review: i enjoyed this book thoroughly. the characters are interesting, but they could have more to them. their actions are not always explained by way of characterization. It is, however, a well done international spy novel. the ending leaves for interpretation, but it is pretty obvious of what occurs.
Rating:
Summary: Bourne again?
Review: I enjoyed this book. Partially because it was a good story and partially because I enjoy this genre. It reminded me of the Bourne Identity...substitute Liz for Jason and Carnivore for Jackal...and who knows? Nonetheless, I found it interesting with some excellent (un-Ludlum) twists and turns. Well written with some fun characters. I hope that Asher appears in another one of her books someday.
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